Donald Trump's comments about abortion shock America (and us)

Beauty Writer with more perfumes and lipsticks than sense. Travel-obsessive and US political enthusiast.

Thursday 31 March 2016

We're used to Donald Trump saying controversial and offensive things, but this week he really took it too far while discussing the (already sensitive) issue of abortion in America.

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The Republican Presidential candidate shocked listeners during a one-on-one interview aired on CNN, when he stated he believed women who had had abortions should face "some form of punishment".

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In the same interview, Trump discusses banning abortion. When asked how he would actually do that, he responds: "It would go back to a position they had where people will perhaps go to illegal places - but you have to ban it."

After widespread criticism for his distasteful remarks, including some from pro-life groups such as March For Life, Trump released the following statement, seemingly going back on what he had earlier said: "If Congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld this legislation, or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman."

He continued: "The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb. My position has not changed - like Ronald Reagan, I am pro-life with exceptions."

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Trump is famously anti-abortion, having spoken out on the issue many times in the past. However, in 1999, he made a statement declaring he was "pro-choice in every aspect," but didn't like "the concept of abortion".